ATKINS — Despite playing the Lamar Lady Warriors close in the first period, the Atkins Lady Red Devils were unable to keep pace with them and dropped a 61-41 3A-4 Conference girls basketball game Friday night inside Red Devil Gymnasium.

“One thing this group has battled the two years I’ve had them is their lack of past success,” Atkins (7-7, 3-3) head coach Craig Pinion said. “Unfortunately these seniors have not had any consistent success. They only won one game as sophomores. We won eight last year. But as far as believing they can compete with someone with the tradition of Lamar, I don’t believe they believe they can do that deep down.”

Atkins opened the game with a quick 4-0 run, but Lady Warriors (10-6, 4-3) sophomore guard Linsey Frost responded with a 3-pointer to close the gap. Lamar’s Sarah Shaw fired in another 3, and the game went back-and-forth from there.

The Lady Red Devils tied the game and eventually regained the lead when Emily Ward tossed in a 3-pointer and Alex Webb went to the free-throw line and made it 10-6 before the Lady Warriors rallied to take a 11-10 advantage going into the second quarter.

Lamar increased its lead to 32-22 in the second. Emilie Nepivoda chipped in five points, while Kylee Thompson added an inside jumper to make it 19-15. But Atkins wasn’t quite done making a game of it. Keisha Bobo drained a 3-pointer and brought the game within one point.

The Lady Warriors answered with a 10-1 run — a run the Lady Red Devils were never quite able to recover from. When Atkins finally responded, it trailed 30-20 with less than a minute left in the first half. Both teams were able to add an additional basket before the buzzer.

Lamar picked up where it left off in the opening moments of the second half and outscored Atkins 8-2 at the 5:08 mark. The game began to get away from the Lady Red Devils, as the Lady Warriors continued to pour it on.

Lindy Hignite scored on a jumper. Shaw and Jessica Deyoung added three points on free-throws. Meanwhile, Atkins’ Marissa Rodgers scored the Lady Red Devils’ lone field goal. By the end of the period, Lamar led 47-30.

Atkins opened the fourth with the determination to overcome the point deficit, a 3-0 run and held the Lady Warriors to only three points midway through the final period. Lamar closed the gap when Nepivoda put one off the glass and in and came alive on defense. The Lady Red Devils were held to six points in the final three minutes.

“I was very proud of our girls,” Lady Warriors head coach Brandon Shluterman said. “We talked a lot this week about doing a few things differently on defense, and I thought we did that. We did an excellent job of playing together.”

Leading scorers for Lamar were Kylee Thomas with 10 points, followed by Lindsey Frost with seven and Nepivoda with six.

“We got a big spark off the bench,” Shluterman said. “This was a very good win for us on the road.”

Marisa Rodgers led Atkins in scoring with eight points, followed by Ward with five.

Pinion said that his team’s lack of success didn’t come entirely from physical ability.

“We turned over the ball too much,” he explained. “We didn’t attack the press. But I really believe it is more mental for us, rather than physical. Our younger kids don’t have that problem, but they don’t quite have the experience. I feel for those seniors that they don’t believe in themselves, that they haven’t been taught to believe in themselves.

“Lamar expects to win when they step on that court. We’re not there yet. We’re just kind of hoping and praying.”